7/31/14

This is pretty random for my website, but I found myself wondering what I was doing and making on this same date in years past. Since I've had this website going since 2006, I did a quick search and thought I'd share.

2006
Although I didn't have an entry for the 31st, I did two on the day before. One of those is my favorite tender,Southern biscuit recipes. The funny thing is, in 2006 I had NO CLUE I would ever actually live in the deep South again.

2007

In 2007 I posting about the deliciousgrilled potatoes I had made for dinner the night before. Sometimes we still make various versions of today... and often.

2008
In 2008 we were grilling marinated shrimp. This is something I still make often and after investing in a grill basket, it's easier than ever. We made this over a campfire on the patio a couple weeks ago.

2011
In 2011, not only was I knee deep in marketing and showing our home as we were in the middle of a relocation across the country, but I was working full time at the museum as the administrative assistant (complete with helping with the weekend events, fund raisers, mid-week board meetings, the young professional meetings we held there as well as getting ready to move my son to college, traveling down South to enroll my daughter into high school in the new city/state... and I apparently had just spilled coffee all over my laptop keyboard. But a day or two before, I had posted a recipe for ButterBeer from Harry Potter.

2012
In 2012, on July 31st, I made beautiful homemade plum jelly. I remember how gorgeous these were, cooling on the counter as the sunshine hit them. They didn't last long as my homemade jelly, jam and salsa's are my husbands favorites and he goes through them in record time!

My online 'healthier' product orders are usually pretty standard as the products are expensive and I don't have a budget that allows me to order often, nor to splurge much. However, I do try to find a product or two each time to 'try' and this was one of them. It was a first time order for me, and purchased with one particular 'not so healthy' recipe in mind that uses sweetened condensed milk, that I hoped to make a sugar free, healthier version of.

This is a powder, that when you reconstitute with cream and vanilla is to resemble the thick, gooey and oh-so-good sweetened condensed milk from a can. It makes two (2) cans worth so I used half the package and prepared as per directions to use in my recipe.

My review is mixed. I would love to say it's a complete 5 stars... I wish I could. But I'm going to give it 2 out of 5.

The product is easy to mix, quick to use and you get a thickened liquid that isn't close to the 'real' deal, but it is thicker than cream alone. The taste however, is not close to sweetened condensed milk. For the recipe I was using it in, it worked just fine as I was using whipping cream, vanilla (more than the little bit used to reconstitute the LC Food product), as well as crushed sugar free cookies, etc. so I had enough foods that my finished product was perfect. My dessert did not depend on the distinctive flavor of sweetened condensed milk, just a sweetener that was thicker than liquid.

The flavor is absolutely 'off' from what sugar would be. It has the strong 'fake sweetener' taste. If your dessert needs the real taste of sweetened condensed milk to turn out, or you don't have other ingredients to mask it, I wouldn't suggest using this one. However, if it is one of many ingredients, and you need to avoid sugar or gluten or soy completely, then yes, I would use this as a go-to product.(I will be posting the recipe I made with it - it was incredibly yummy! Check back soon!)

7/30/14

All these years, I thought I had my stand-by pie crust recipe here on my site, but a quick search didn't turn it up (and I refuse to search for longer than oh, 2 seconds! Ha) so I wanted to be sure it was here for my oldest daughter to easily find, as well as my son and younger daughter too, now that all three will be 'out of the nest' as of this Fall.

This is a recipe I've been making for almost 20 years. It's quick and easy, it's pretty much fool proof, and it tastes great as well as having a nice texture. I'm actually more of a pie 'crust' kind of a person moreso than the filling. So this crust sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar is more of a treat for me than a whole slice of pie would be as it's a food I remember my Mom making with the extra scraps of leftover pie crust when I was only 3 and 4 years old.

In a food processor, place the flour, salt and a mixture of about 1/2 cup shortening and 1/4 cup butter (you can use all shortening, all butter, or a mixture of both, but I like these amounts for a flaky, tender crust from the shortening with the stability and flavor of the butter). Pulse a few times just to make a crumbly mix. With the machine running on low, drizzle ICE cold water thru the feeder tube just until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides. This usually takes about 3-4 tablespoons but could be less or more depending on the brand of flour, the humidity, the exact amount of flour used, etc. Now split into 2 disks and chill for about 20 minutes to make them easier to work with. Roll out on a lightly floured surface. This makes 2 bottom crusts or 1 top and 1 bottom crust. Bake according to your pie recipe.

Stop adding water and pulsing as soon as it forms a ball

One disk of dough

An easy way to do a top crust; lay the rolled out crust over all

Gently roll the excess to the edge of your pie

Either seal the edges by pressing with a fork or by pinching to form a waved crust

I just go around the outside pinching the dough between my fingers

For this pie I sprinkled the top with cinnamon and sugar before baking

7/19/14

This dish is tweaked and based on a recipe I've had sitting in a very well used 3-ring-binder for ten years. Yes.... 10. Years. And I've flipped past it, never made it because the list of ingredients seemed so boring, so common and so blah, that I didn't give it the time of day. Today that changed.

It started simply enough. I grabbed two Ziploc packages of frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts from the freezer, popped them into my electric skillet on 300 degrees and let them cook while I did other things. When they were cooked I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, so I flipped open one of my kazillion 3-ring binders where I have old recipes hand written, printed, ripped out of old magazines, etc. And my eyes fell on a very boring looking chicken and spinach casserole recipe. It only caught my attention because it called for 3 cups of cooked, diced chicken (which I had in front of me) and spinach... which is currently my 18 year old daughter's favorite vegetable that she can't get enough of.

I added a bunch of jalapenos, some salsa (because I made homemade fresh salsa a few days ago and wanted to use it up), some red and orange peppers and viola! I taste tested it before it was even heated through, loved it so much, I immediately (yes, immediately) made a second batch to put in the freezer for a future dinner. I am also going to copy it right now to send the link to my oldest daughter to add to her 'whip this up for dinner' and it's "soooo good" file.

Mix the chicken and spinach in a casserole dish. Saute' the onion and pepper in butter until tender. Add the jalapenos, mix and add to the chicken/spinach. Heat the salsa (or the tomato/onion/pepper/garlic/lime/salt) in a pan. Add the cream cheese and heat through. Pour over the chicken mixture. Add the sour cream, spices and cheese. Mix and bake at 350 until heated through and bubbly or microwave if you are in a hurry or don't want to heat up the kitchen.

I tasted it at this stage; pre-cream cheese and sour cream and salsa and it was amazing already!

I would even venture to make this and serve as it is; without the cheeses as a lighter alternative.

7/18/14

If you are a fan of peanut butter cookies, I can't imagine you haven't made the oh-so-simple three ingredient version that not only has every Great Grandmother (in the US at least), but pretty much, almost every 8 year old has made as well. (1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar and 1 egg... make into balls, flatten and bake at 350 for about 9 minutes.) I'm not a fan of peanut butter, but my family is so I made them... but like every other recipe I ever make, I always tweak, embellish, change it a bit. Whenever I made that simplistic version I always added some vanilla at the very least, and usually used half white, half brown sugar.

This recipe is similar - very basic, but with a few more additions than just the 3. The thing is, this is a regular peanut butter cookie recipe without flour or grains... but I went a step further and used natural sweeteners that make it sugar free as well. The only sugar in this cookie (if you make it with natural sweeteners) is whatever sugar grams are in your favorite peanut butter.

Mix in a bowl until smooth. Chill dough for easier handling and less spreading. Form balls of your favorite size cookie and bake on parchment at 350 for about 10-12 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets at least 3 minutes before moving to racks to cool complete. These can be more crumbly in texture than the sort with flour (especially in the summer when the humidity is high), but after they are cool I put 3 cookies each in individual baggies and keep them in the refrigerator or freezing for easy "grab and go".

*I've made these with Splenda back in the early 2000's before other natural sweeteners were available and since then have made them with various natural sugar substitutes. I like to use Ideal brand for the best flavor. If you taste test the dough, you can add more or less sweetener to your own preference. I've also made these into balls and dipped the tops in granulated sugar substitute before baking.

UPDATE: 2016 - Ideal no longer makes the brown sugar version but Just Like Sugar does.

7/17/14

Having made sugar free, low carb, no grain cookies of all kinds for the past 12 years, there are some I like better than others, but I've found the brand and style sweetener I use makes all the difference. Making the same recipe with a different brand sweetener (or even a different brand almond flour) changes the taste and texture - even if it's the same 'product' - just a different company.

Ideal Sweetener is xylitol based, never bitter, always sweet, and is perfect for all my cooking and baking. No, they didn't sponsor this post.

You can find it at Netrition or at Amazon - (Ideal Sweetener) but this morning as I was adding this recipe to my website, I was going to link to the brown sugar style sweetener and found they have discontinued it!Had I known that I would have bought at least six (6) packages on my last Netrition order! I hope they don't discontinue their granular product; however, considering they only sell at one or two stores in the entire USA and online at just 2 websites... well, how can you sell you product if no one knows about it? Worse? Whoever runs their marketing department REALLY dropped the ball because social media is HUGE for spreading great product feedback but they haven't updated their Facebook or Twitter accounts since 2012.

If you happen to already have Ideal Brand Brown Sugar Sweetener in your cupboard - yeah! But if you don't, you could use this one; Brown Sweetener by Just Like Sugar - which is very good too, but has a little bit stronger 'burnt brown sugar' smell to it.

Mix the butter, oil and sugars until creamy. Add the liquids and eggs. Mix in the dry ingredients and stir in the chips. Chill the dough at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Scoop cookies into balls, flatten slightly and bake on parchment paper for 10-12 minutes until golden brown on edges and starting to brown on tops. Cool on cookie sheets for about 3-4 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

UPDATED: 2016 - Ideal (mentioned above no longer carries the brown sugar version but Just Like Sugar does)

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This site began in 2006 when I decided to use it to save and store my favorite collected recipes and food photos for easy access, and for my kids to use them in their cooking endeavors.

It's my own personal site but I keep it public so others can use it too. Today's food blogs seem to be about pretty food pictures and elaborate photo shoots; This blog isn't about pretty pictures - it's about the food.

I don't even always remember to take pictures of the food as I'm making it.My pictures are all snapped quickly with my iPhone.I'm just a wife and Mom who shares my cooking adventures and recipes.

I do not publish articles written by others as guest posts.

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All my photos (as bad as some of them are!) are mine and mine alone. Please respect that and don't use them without asking. Thanks!

Low carb and Keto products are not always easy to find at your local retail providers. I buy most of mine online.

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